Marcus’s eyes narrowed, trying to figure out if she was being snide or simply stupid. “How he turns it on and off.”
She had no idea what Mahsood or anyone else had said to entice Marcus so he would voluntarily let them inject him with an experimental drug. Probably that he’d come out the other side like some kind of Superman. But now he was stuck in this monster form with no way out. A small part of her almost felt sorry for him. But all she had to think about was the casual ease with which he’d ripped out one of his own men’s throats simply because the guys had talked too much. The hybrid process might have given Marcus claws and fangs, but he’d made himself into a monster all on his own.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Kendra explained. “You’re not like him. He wouldn’t be able to teach you anything.”
His lip curled back in a snarl. “Forgive me for doubting you, but I’d rather hear that from him. I’m going to ask you one more time. Where is he?”
“If you were so interested in talking to him, maybe you shouldn’t have sent all those things of yours after us,” she shot back, the words out before she had time to think. “Six of them attacked us below the rapids in that river near where your men found me. They killed him.”
Marcus surged to his feet so fast that the chair he’d been sitting in flew across the room and smashed into the wall. “You’re lying!”
Kendra jumped. She wondered for a split second if hybrids had the ability to smell when someone was lying. But she immediately dismissed that notion. Hybrids seemed to share only the most basic traits with their shifter cousins.
“You’re right. I’m lying.” She wasn’t sure why she got to her feet. Marcus was way too big for her to ever be able to look him in the eye. But that didn’t stop her from putting her hands on the table and shouting at him anyway. “Because it makes complete sense for me to run around the jungle by myself instead of staying with the man who was keeping me alive out there!”
“If he’s dead, then where’s the body?” Marcus demanded.
“I don’t know. He fell in the river and got carried away. Go look for him somewhere downstream.”
Saying the words hurt her as much as they had the first time, but she was desperate to sell the fact that Declan was beyond their reach. She only hoped Declan was awake and gone by now. She needed to give him every extra minute she could.
The hybrid’s eyes flared so brightly they seemed to light up the room more than the sun that was starting to peek in the windows. His claws dug into the conference table, and she thought he was going to tear right through it to get to her. She backed away, not caring if he could smell her fear.
“I guess I have no further use for you then,” he said, the words a low, rumbling whisper.
Oh crap. She’d pushed too hard and blown the only chance she had to get away. This hulking killer was going to end this right here and now.
“Ruiz! Madsen!” he shouted.
The door jerked open behind her, and the two hybrids who had escorted her there strode into the room.
“Take her to the lab and give her the serum.” Marcus’s hellish gaze seared into her. “It’ll be interesting to see what a woman looks like after going through the transformation process.”
Kendra’s blood turned to ice. She tried to run, but the two hybrids grabbed her arms and picked her up like she was a rag doll. She kicked and dragged her feet, but they ignored her struggles as they carried her across the camp.
Crap. She’d imagined Marcus doing some pretty horrific stuff to her, but she never thought he’d turn her into a hybrid. This was worse than anything she’d imagined.
Chapter 13
“What the hell is the problem now?” Tate demanded.
Angelo ground his teeth as the DCO operative squared off against Ivy and Clayne. He knew Tate was scared shitless about Declan and Kendra, but so was everyone else. On top of that, they were all exhausted, thanks to pushing hard through the night. If anyone should be given a break, it was Ivy and Clayne. For whatever reason, Declan and Kendra’s trail had gotten harder and harder to follow throughout the night. Ivy and Clayne had practically been